Discussion - Changing role of IT (Essay Sample)

The role of IT
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Information and Technology (IT) integration to business is one area that has become a center of operations in most of the world’s top businesses. Today, it has become a defining element between most industries from their competitors. Those who are able to leverage the numerous platforms offered by IT differ from their competitors in that they view IT as a business enabler instead of a cost center. They work to maximize their efficiency of their operations so that they can focus on delivering more value to their customers (IT Business Value par 1).
The four most important aspects that drive IT in business are; cost, agility, quality in service and Governance, Risk Management and Compliance (IT Business Value par 1). IT reduces cost and thereby improves the productivity of the involved groups. When it comes to agility, it offers immediate connectivity of voice and data as well as visual images. This makes reliable information to be readily available for efficiency, transparency and also accuracy which are important elements in business. It also increases the choices in market places and also provides access to goods and services otherwise hardly physically available. For this reason, quality can be guaranteed as one can choose from a variety of choices. Administration also becomes easy as sometimes one does not have to be physically present to execute an important process (Kramer et al 2007).
Often, IT increases efficiency, productivity and access to goods, services, information and markets. Demand for these benefits is high. Cuts in budgets demand companies to do with less. In such cases, the first thin...